Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for predicting an operational lifetime of a transistor

US6530064B1 · kind B1 · utility

11Cited by
7References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 19, 2000
Grant dateMar 4, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 5, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F17/18
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An operational lifetime, and also performance characteristics, can be accurately predicted for an experimental transistor design (10) and a specified set of fabrication process conditions (117), without actually fabricating and testing a physical transistor made according to the particular design data and process conditions. With respect to the prediction of an operational lifetime, the operational lifetime can be expressed as a function of the size of a gate overlap (12) of the transistor, and this relationship is valid throughout a selected semiconductor technology for which the transistor is designed. The size of the gate overlap is determined by selecting a combinations of values for two process conditions.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.